CHAPTER FIVE #2
Renee squeezed her hand. “Tell her about William.”
Selena almost winced. They were not just supporting Sandra, they were steering her. It probably wasn’t intentional, but it was enough to contaminate the interview. Exactly what Selena wanted to avoid. And yet, here they were, doing just that.
Sandra breathed out shakily. “William Rankin. One of Warren’s hunting buddies. I saw him outside Davy’s Hardware three weeks ago. I said something about all the trips he and Warren had been taking. William looked at me like I’d lost my mind.”
“What did he say?”
“That he hadn’t hunted with Warren since last deer season. Said they’d talked about going, but it never happened.”
“So Warren had been using him as an alibi.”
Sandra nodded. “Yes.”
“Did you confront Warren?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“How did he react?”
Sandra’s mouth hardened. “He denied it. Again and again. Said I was making a fool of myself. Said I’d become suspicious and bitter. Then he stormed out.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he come back quickly?”
“Late. After midnight.”
“Did you speak after that?”
“Hardly.” Sandra’s voice thinned. “We could sit in the same house and say less than strangers.”
Janet leaned forward. “That doesn’t mean she had anything to do with what happened.”
“I haven’t said that,” Selena replied.
“But you’re circling it.”
“I’m asking what Warren’s life looked like before someone killed him.”
Renee’s chin lifted. “He was hurting her. That’s what it looked like.”
Sandra shook her head, fresh tears gathering. “Renee.”
“What? He was. You don’t have to protect him now.”
Selena noted the quick flare in Renee’s voice. Protective, yes. But also angry in a way that felt rehearsed by private conversations.
“Sandra,” Selena said, “I hate to ask this, but it’s procedure. Where were you two nights ago when Warren was killed?”
Janet sat upright. “Excuse me?”
Sandra answered before her sister could continue. “I had a terrible migraine. I was in bed for two days.”
“Can anyone vouch for that?”
“Not all of it.”
The answer came without hesitation and plenty of exhaustion.
“No one else was in the house?” Selena asked.
“No. Mary lives with Janet. Renee came by the day before yesterday, just in the afternoon for an hour, but I was alone after that.”
“I see.”
Janet stood so suddenly the sofa cushion shifted. “You aren’t accusing my sister while she’s mourning, are you?”
“No. But I have to ask for alibis.”
Renee rose too, one hand still on Sandra’s shoulder. “It’s outrageous to question a widow like that.”
Selena remained seated. “My job is to catch whoever did this. That means asking questions people don’t want answered.”
Sandra covered her face and began to sob.
Janet pointed toward the doorway. “Get out.”
Selena stood slowly. “Sandra, I’m sorry for the distress. We may need to speak again.”
“No,” Janet snapped. “You won’t. Not like this.”
Connor came back in with Mary beside him. Mary’s face was wet, but her breathing had steadied. His gaze moved from Janet to Renee to Selena.
“What’s going on?”
Janet jabbed a finger toward Selena. “If there are any more questions, we’ll deal with you, Connor. Not this one.”
The words cut through the room.
Mary looked mortified. “Mom.”
Janet ignored her.
Selena picked up her file bag. “I think I have everything I need for now.”
Sandra’s sobs grew harder. Renee sat back down beside her and put both arms around her. Janet stayed upright, guarding the sofa as if Selena might push past her.
“Leave,” Janet said.
Connor looked as though he wanted to say something, but Selena gave him the smallest shake of her head. This room would not give them anything more today.
Mary walked them to the front door.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “It’s a hard time for the family.”
“I understand,” Selena said.
Mary touched the doorframe with one hand. “My Mom isn’t usually that abrupt. She’s just upset for her sister.”
Selena studied the young woman. “Did your Uncle Warren ever talk to you about anyone he was meeting?”
Mary shook her head. “No. He didn’t talk to me much about anything.”
“Did you believe he was having an affair?”
Mary looked back down the hall. Voices murmured in the sitting room. Janet’s, then Renee’s, then Sandra crying again.
“I always thought he was a stand-up guy. I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Mary said. “I better go.”
“Goodbye.”
Outside, the sun hit Selena’s face with fresh force.
Connor waited until they had crossed the porch and started down the path before speaking.
“That wasn’t procedure, Connor,” Selena said.
“Look, before you get on your high horse. I get it. I just don’t want Sandra upset any more than she already is. If she needs support there with her, so be it. It’s not a big deal.”
"Connor, you have to remember. You're the Sheriff in all of this, not their friend."
“Can’t I be both?” he asked.
She heard a softness in his voice. “Maybe. But your duty has to come first. You know that.”
“All right,” he said with a sigh. “Maybe next time you should console the crying lady and I’ll continue with the questions.”
Selena stepped around the mud patch this time. “Maybe next time the crying lady shouldn’t have three people protecting her from basic procedure.”
“She just lost her husband.”
“She also accused him of having an affair, confronted him two weeks ago, stopped speaking to him, and has no alibi.”
Connor stopped near his SUV. "Sandra Holt is a good person."
Selena turned toward him. “Everyone is until they aren’t.”
“You don’t know them like I do. Warren was a great person when you got past his grumpiness, and Sandra is a real sweetheart.”
“Exactly how well did you know the victim?” Selena asked.
“We used to play cards,” Connor answered. “We’re friends, but not so close you need to worry about me looking the other way if I see something rotten. Though I can guarantee you there won’t be anything.”
He looked back at the farmhouse. Behind one upstairs window, a curtain shifted and fell still.
Selena followed his gaze.
“I don’t know… There’s something wrong here,” she said. “I can feel it.”
“Feeling things isn’t evidence.”
“No. But it tells you where to look,” she said. “All these years in the FBI has taught me to follow my gut more often than not.”
“Chief?” the voice came over Connor’s radio.
“Go ahead, Arnold.”
“Got word from Matt Price, he’s over at the lodge. Looks like he found footprints at the broken window, more than one set, and some prints on the frame.”
Connor nodded as if to himself. “Did you run them?”
“No, he just let me know he’s bringing them to the station.”
“Run them as soon as you can, let me know what you find, Arnold.”
“Will do, Chief.”
Connor turned to Selena. “You still think the killer went back to the lodge? I bet it’s a bunch of kids.”
“You should know by now to trust my hunches,” she said, crossing her arms.
Connor stopped as if to roll his eyes at that comment. But he didn’t. “What do you want to do now?”
“Back to the department. We dig into Sandra, Janet, Renee, Mary, and Warren’s business. Financials, cell phone records if we can get them, known associates, property disputes, that sort of thing. Anything that might have made him a target.”
“That’s a wide net.”
“Sandra gave us no alibi and almost no curiosity about who the other woman might be. That seems strange to me… But we have to cast a wide net until we catch something worthwhile. Right now, we have nothing.”
Connor put his hat on, brim shading his eyes.
Selena opened her car door.
This time, she checked the ground first before getting in.